Star Tribune
St. Paul police ask for help after 83-year-old man killed in hit-and-run crash
St. Paul Police are asking for the public’s help after an 83-year-old man was killed in an apparent hit-and-run earlier this month.
On Oct. 19, police were called to the intersection of Arlington Avenue East and McAfee Street a little after 7:30 p.m. after a motorist discovered a man lying in the road and unconscious. He later died after being transported to a hospital.
The man has since been identified as John Bidon, who lived near the intersection, according to a Monday social media by the police department. The Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Bidon likely died from a car hitting him.
There are no known witnesses to the incident and police do not have a vehicle description, said Sgt. Mike Ernster, a department spokesperson.
Anyone who has information on the incident is asked to St. Paul Police at 651-266-5722.
“Mourning Passage” – a list of the names of people killed by police that is repainted on the street annually – would remain, though slightly north of its current location.
While calling the square “a sacred place,” the city would restore vehicular access to the neighborhood’s numerous driveways, garages and alleys, with full access for transit, emergency vehicles and deliveries. But traffic would be calmed with curb extensions, raised trail crossings, a raised intersection and wider sidewalks.
The report acknowledges “emotion” over the city leading the work at the square, with some saying there weren’t enough Black voices involved. Some critics want to see more progress toward protesters’ original 24 “demands for justice,” which include requiring police officers to maintain private liability insurance and firing some leaders of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, before development proceeds, particularly at the People’s Way.
A community-led town hall meeting will be held to discuss an alternative plan on Nov. 6 at Calvary Lutheran Church. Residents say they will urge the city to halt its plan and instead focus on a proposal on health care and housing, saying they want the city to ensure any development honors the legacy of Black lives taken by police violence and the trauma the neighborhood has endured.
Alexander Kado, senior project manager in charge of George Floyd Square, said the city is still taking feedback on the report. There was a public open house dinner dialogue Tuesday night.
Details of the plans include:
Hennepin County has fast-tracked the creation of a youth behavioral health crisis stabilization center in Minneapolis as pressure mounts to help kids with complex mental health needs who are stuck in emergency rooms and detention centers.
County commissioners unanimously signed off Tuesday on a $15 million plan to open the center, as well as an up to $7 million annual agreement for provider Nexus Family Healing to operate the 10- to 15-bed crisis residential program for kids.
“This is long overdue,” County Administrator David Hough said. While the county hopes state lawmakers will address broader youth mental health needs, he added that the county has to act, “because if we don’t, it’s not going to be done for some time.”
He hopes the facility can start operating in three to six months, and said it will serve Hennepin County children and potentially some kids from other counties.
The new center will focus on a gap in services for kids who need short-term residential treatment to stabilize their behaviors while a support plan is created for them. Those kids are often stuck in juvenile detention centers or emergency rooms. Others remain at home with family members who aren’t equipped to meet their intense needs or have to leave the state to get help.
Hennepin County’s crisis stabilization center will include three key services:
Kids will likely stay at the short-term facility for a maximum of 30 to 45 days, said Leah Kaiser, the county’s behavioral health director.
The center will be located on two floors of a building at 1800 Chicago Ave., in Minneapolis, where the county currently offers walk-in mental health and substance use disorder support for adults.
Star Tribune
While some stress as Nov. 5 approaches, many Americans remain hopeful about the election
The early voters arrived at their polling place in a clatter of skateboard wheels and excited chatter.
Tucking their boards under their arms, they nodded to election judge Beatrice Owen and headed in to cast their vote.
It was a small moment, but it made her smile. She holds on to the memory, one of her favorite Election Day recollections, on the long days she and other members of the League of Women Voters spend registering voters and the even longer nights at candidate forums for lesser-known races you have to flip your ballot over to see.
“This is your country,” said Owen, president of the League of Women Voters of St. Paul. Voting, she said, is a responsibility and a civic duty.
In an election cycle churning with anxiety, stress and rage, Owen still sees Minnesotans approaching the ballot box with all the hope and enthusiasm of a first-time voter on a skateboard.
“I think, overall, people are kind of excited,” she said. Excited enough to research the constitutional amendments on this year’s ballot, excited enough to read up on the down-ballot judicial candidates, excited enough to walk up to a League of Women Voters booth at an event and learn more. “It’s like they’re saying ‘I’m taking responsibility for my country.’ I think that reflects in a positive, upbeat attitude.”
Hearing about positive, upbeat voters is a pleasant change from news of a stressed-out, doomscrolling electorate lying awake at night wondering what is going to happen to those of us on Donald Trump’s ever-growing enemies list.
The 2024 presidential election is tying us in knots. The American Psychological Association’s annual Stress in America report finds stressed, anxious nation where politics is fraying families and fueling fears about the nation’s very future.
